Julia Gillard who admitted helping rip off the AWU of over $1million stands by and supports Craig Thomson who is accused of ripping off the Health Services Union. The Australian Labor Party, beautiful one day, perfect the next.

This is a follow-up post to my last post which is titled “Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s criminal history and her hypocrisy with WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.” In that post I talked extensively about Julia Gillard helping her boyfriend steal over $1,000,000 from the Australian Workers Union. In hind-site it was a very timely post. If you have not read it I suggest you do as a large part of it ties in with this story. (Click here to read: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s criminal history and her hypocrisy with WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.)

Most Australians would have heard of the Craig Thomson scandal by now as it very hard to miss of him being accused of stealing in total over $200,000 using the company credit card from the Health Services Union. And regular readers of this site will know that concealing a crime is a crime in itself, and that will be the focus of this post. Why? Because the cover-up covers the breadth of the Government and will go down in history as one of the great scandals, not because of what Craig Thomson did but because of the cover-up. It must be remembered this happened 4 years ago and to date nothing has happened.

Obviously I will have to outline what Craig Thomson did before we can focus on the cover-up. i will also put links to some stories for broader background.

Time Line:

2002: Craig Thomson is appointed Secretary of the Health Services Union

November 2007: Craig Thomson is elected to Federal Parliament for the seat of Dobell. Thanks Senator Mark Arbib in his maiden speech.

November – December 2007: Health Services Union withhold $191,000 in employee entitlements. (This is the real smoking gun that ties in the Union in the coverup, but I will get into that later)

April 2009: The Sydney Morning Herald publishes allegations that Thomson’s Health Services Union credit card was used to pay for prostitutes and to bankroll his election campaign. Thomson denies the allegations and launches a defamation suit against the paper. (From Crikey.com.au)

August 1 2011: Radio interview on 2UE with Mike Smith. Craig Thomson admits approving the payments for the prostitutes but says it was not him. He claims someone else must have forged his signature. Says another person paid back $15,000 to the Union but does not name the person.

August 19: The Sydney Morning Herald reports that bills and credit card statements they have obtained show that Thomson made calls to escort agencies from hotel rooms in Melbourne in April and June 2006.

In an article in the SMH on the 20th August 2011 by Peter Hartcher he says that the 3 key things that have brought the Craig Thomson affair to a head now are:

1. Thomson dropped his defamation action against Fairfax Media (the owner of the Sydney Morning Herald) 2. The radio interview with Mike Smith on 2UE. and 3. “News Ltd papers reported that the NSW branch of the Labor Party had given Thomson a loan of $90,000 to pay his legal bills in running the defamation case against Fairfax.” (Read more at: http://bit.ly/npO5MA)

Health Services Union

The Health Services Union have been sitting on this for almost four years now. The fact that they withheld $191,000 of Craig Thomson’s employee entitlements back in 2007 says it all. They knew then that fraud or likely fraud had taken place. The fact that Craig Thomson did not take any action to recover the $191,000 is basically admission of guilt that he fraudulently took the money.

When Craig Thomson was elected to Parliament in 2007 his position at the Union was taken by Kathy Jackson. Her former husband, Jeff Jackson, was also accused of ripping off the Union when he was secretary of the Victorian HSU. This is outlined in an article in the Australian in April 2009. Some of the things he is alleged to have used it for is: “a string of prostitutes, designer clothes, dental work, gourmet food and drinks at a favourite Melbourne hotel.” (Read more at: http://bit.ly/pzNjuF)

Kathy Jackson’s partner is now The Hon. Vice President Michael Lawler of Fair Work Australia. The same Fair Work Australia that has been investigating the Craig Thomson affair for the last two years and has achieved nothing.

On August 25th 2011 Kathy Jackson announced that the Union would refer the matter to the NSW Police and give them all the evidence that they had. Why after almost 4 years and a clear cover-up had they refered it to the police.

Simple, a few days earlier the federal shadow attorney general, George Brandis, had made a formal complaint to the NSW Police who said they would evaluate whether or not to investigate. This gave Kathy Jackson and the union a few days at best to make a complaint to the NSW Police otherwise if they did decide to investigate Ms Jackson and the Union could also be charged for concealing a criminal offence. Without a doubt that is the legal advice that Kathy Jackson and the union would have had. But they still have a lot of explaining to do of why it took them four years to make the complaint.

Fair Work Australia

It is a court and has Judges and Commissioners. It says on their website “Fair Work Australia began operation on 1 July 2009 following the enactment of the Fair Work Act 2009 and associated transitional legislation. The new tribunal assumed the functions of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and the Australian Industrial Registry (both date back to 1904) and the Australian Fair Pay Commission (established in 2005) and some of the functions of the Workplace Authority (established in 2007)”.

The main functions are setting minimum wages, dealing with unfair dismissals, regulating Unions and general workplace protections etc.

Julia Gillard is the person who set it up when she was Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

What Julia Gillard did was set up Fair Work Australia and then closed down Australian Industrial Relations Commission and the Australian Industrial Registry. Why didn’t she just rebadge the Australian Industrial Relations Commission? I have no doubt is was so she could put as many Labor Party cronies in there as she could. She in effect started her own court.

In my previous post I mentioned that the Australian Mines and Metals Association has documented Julia Gillard stacking the bench at Fair Work Australia with her union mates. One person who gets mentioned as a clear labor party dual appointment is Deputy President Peter Sams of the NSW IRC who was the secretary of the NSW Labor Council (now Unions NSW) from 1994 to 1998. What is not mentioned is that he is also a former ALP State President and a former Managing Director of Radio Station 2KY which at the time was owned by the Labor Party.

The point I am trying to make is that when you have people like Peter Sams and Kathy Jackson’s partner Michael Lawler (and there are plenty more like them) at Fair Work Australia it is not to hard to work out why Fair Work Australia have been doing nothing with the Craig Thomson matter which they have been investigating for the last two years.

Senator Chris Evans and Peter Hanks – QC

In February this year at a budget estimates hearing liberal Senator Michael Ronaldson tried to ask questions to Terry Nassios who is the Fair Work Australia employee who is investigating Craig Thomson, such as whether or not he had interviewed Craig Thomson. Senator Chris Evans intervened and said he would like to get some legal advice before Terry Nassios answered the question.

Peter Hanks QC was subsequently paid $7092 and advised it was not in the public interest to reveal who had been interviewed. The advice is nothing but a bad joke. The matter has been dragging on for almost 4 years and FWA has been investigating for 2 years. It clearly is in the public interest to see what FWA have been doing and why they have been so derelict in their duty.

Peter Hanks QC should never have given the advice in the first place as he has a clear conflict of interest. He has had his snout in the tax payer funded government trough for a long time. For example he is currently representing the Department of Health and Ageing in their Federal Court dispute with British American Tobacco Australia over plain packaging for cigarettes and in 2007 he headed a review of Workers’ Compensation in Victoria for the Labor government.

When you hear the government say they have legal advice that it is not in the public interest to reveal information that is code for a cover up. Peter Hanks QC should reveal on what basis and how he gave the advice. A copy of the written advice would be interesting to see and there is nothing stopping Senator Chris Evans or Fair Work Australia making it public. Given that Fair Work Australia would have plenty of lawyers working there why did they pay for the dodgy advice?

There is a prima facie case to have both Senator Chris Evans and Peter Hanks QC charged with concealing a serious indictable offence.

Senator Mark Arbib

Senator Mark Arbib never seems to be far away when there is dodgy conduct going on. He helped Craig Thomson get prelected in the seat of Dobell, he reportedly helped negotiate the $90,000 to $150,000 bailout for Craig Thomson (which he has not denied) by the NSW Labor Party which Mark Arbib previously headed up. He appointed Tim Lee who is a former labor party adviser and union official as General Manager of Fair Work Australia. (Terry Nassios who is investigating Craig Thomson at FWA reports directly to Tim Lee).

NSW Police

The NSW Police could have and should have started an investigation into Craig Thomson. They claimed they could not start an investigation unless they had a complaint from the Health Services Union. This is a straight out lie by the NSW Police. The Commissioner Andrew Scipione has a few questions he needs to answer on why they were lying. It is worth noting that he was appointed as Police Commissioner by the previous NSW Labor government who were notorious for appointing their own boys and girls to senior positions in the government.

Is Craig Thomson guilty of ripping off the Health Services Union? There is a truck load of evidence that says he HAS, but the two main telling pieces of evidence are:

1. He is fusing to respond to the massive amounts of allegations that have been made against him and is dragging the Federal Government into the gutter. If he was not guilty he would have addressed the allegations long ago.

2. He never took legal action to recover the $191,000 employee entitlements that the Health Services Union kept in 2007. And this is a person who needed the NSW Labor party to bail him out with $90,000 to $150,000 so he did not go bankrupt. If he had not ripped off the union he would have gone after the $191,000.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard

She clearly knows that Craig Thomson has committed a criminal offence and has been trying to cover it up otherwise she would take action and not let the scandal drag the government into the gutter. Her office has been instructing all the labor party federal MP’s on how to answer media questions on the Craig Thomson scandal. All the federal MP’s would be well advised to get their own independent legal advice because some of the answers they are being instructed to give could be considered an attempt to conceal a criminal offence and they themselves could and should be charged.

In summary we have the Health Services Union concealing criminal offences for almost 4 years. Fair Work Australia which was set up by and to the liking of Julia Gillard and is full of Labor Party cronies covering it up for the last two years and it is probably another year or more before they do anything if ever. Senator Evans and Peter Hanks QC committing the criminal offence of trying to conceal a criminal offence and that serial grub Mark Arbib in the background pulling the strings.

The Craig Thomson affair has a lot of similarities to Julia Gillard helping rip of the AWU. Both involved fraud and theft from a union and both involved a cover up.

There has been various legal opinions in the media that Craig Thomson has not committed a crime because he was not instructed by the HSU on how to use the credit card and because he never stole any property and even if he had of stolen property that it would be ok if he returned it.

Well those legal opinions are garbage. His employment contract would tell him what he is entitled to from a financial view-point and unless it says in his employment contract that he can use the company credit for things like prostitutes, electrical goods and his election campaign etc then he has stolen the money. When he bought the electrical goods and shoes etc and paid for them with the HSU credit card they belonged to the HSU and I have not seen in the news where he has returned them so he has stolen property from the HSU. I would also like to know how he could return the services of the escorts he used.

The conduct of the people mentioned above, especially Julia Gillard, reminds me of the famous David Frost/Richard Nixon interview where Frost asked Nixon about the legality of the president’s actions. Nixon replied: “Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.” Julia Gillard obviously thinks because she is the Prime Minister she can do what she wants, conceal crimes, falsely accuse people of committing crimes etc.

It is time for Australia to have a zero tolerance for corruption especially by politicians.

The whole situation is total joke and that is best put by Nationals Senate Leader Barnaby Joyce in an interview he gave in the above video on Meet the Press on Channel Ten.

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IT APPEARS TO ME THAT EVERY POLOTICIAN UNDERGOES A TRAINING COURSE ON THE BEST AND FAIREST WAYS TO LIE ABOUT YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS INTO THE CRIMINAL WORLD. THERE NEEDS TO BE A SEPERATE BODY WHICH HAS THE POWER TO CALL INTO ACCOUNT ANY AND ALL EXPOSED COMPLAINTS AND / OR ALLOGATIONS AGAINST POLLOTICIANS. THE FINDING MUST BE OUT THERE FOR PUBLIC SCRUTINAY. WON’T HAPPEND, NO POLLOTICIAN IS GOING TO GIVE ANY ONE THAT SORT OF POWER, BUT A GOOD IDEA NON THE SAME.

The daffy poodle of a GG is only there because everyone knows she will ONLY do as she’s told by the Government of the day. About the most important measure she’s ever taken involved cutting a ribbon and lots of flowers. The Shorten connection is almost Byzantine.

I totally agree. I have will dod a seperate post on it in the near future. The Glenn Milne / News Ltd – Julia Gillard started with my previous post. There is a lot more to the story which I know that others don’t.

It is a very good point. I doubt that the HSU would have paid the tax as the expenditure on the credit card is meant to be for work related items. They probably claimed a tax deduction, which if true they need to explain. But it is my understanding that it is also Thomson who has to declare in his tax return any Fringe Benefits. He could possibly be charged with tax evasion as well. That is something the Opposition should follow up.

Thanks Shane,
well it appears the only way to sort this out is to, somehow, “get at” the conscience of the independents

Guess it’s up to the people to bombard the Three Amigos until one (or more) breaks.

It’s going to take some time to sort Thomson out, by the time the law catches up to him the election will be due and Gillard will have blown the budget to hell with her nearly daily give aways. 8-( Don’t know if Labor has the stones to sack her.

P.S.
As the HSU is a registered not for profit organisation I think it may be exempt of income tax with some exceptions. BUT NOT for FBT !

Love this work. It is fast getting out there. I am concerned about Milne being sacked by the ABC, especially in the wake of the inferred intimidation of the calls to News Ltd, (which was bad enough!)

How can this happen and what can be done? It seems to me that the Labor union culture has pervaded the Labor party to such an extent that now they don’t even know that they are doing wrong. It is a worrying thought that this type of “in your face” punishment, with consequences, comes from the union’s way of doing things

Australians deserve and need to know the truth. It makes me suspect more than the article reveals She seems so intent on closing down the press that it makes me even more suspicious of her doings.

Have the ABC broken their charter. ? Has Gillard committed any offences with these actions?

It’s open warfare now. It is a battle that has to be won. Australia’s democracy is right on the line. If Gillard can get away with this we are in a lot of trouble as it will set a precedent for what they can get away with in the future. It is good to see News Ltd have realised their mistake and have taken the battle to Gillard. Yes I have no doubt the ABC have broken their charter but they will say they had other reasons for the Glenn Milne sacking. In relation to Gillard, I will be doing another post on it in the next 24 – 48 hours.

(A) You did not live at 85 Kent Street Fitzroy Melbourne Victoria with Wilson, nor did that premises undergo renovation using cash payments to contractors.

(B) You were never in receipt of gifts of clothing (sourced from a business known as Town Mode) and or similar businesses as is stated in Hansard in the Victorian Parliament

and

(C) You did NOT handle the Cheque for $67,722.00 paid to Slater and Gordon in March 1993 which finalised the settlement of the Fitzroy purchase.
Considering it appears it was from AWU funds out of the proceeds of a cheque made to the AWU from Theiss Constructions in the amount of $25,272.00 to Acct No. 005-1000-2590 (CBC), an account called AWU Workplace Relations Assistance Inc. it was clearly AWU funds.
Even if as it appears this account (A) was tipped into account (B), as the solicitor representing the AWU, (the AOR if you like) you should or would have known of this transaction, regardless of the source.

Did you handle the matter?

(D) That the appointment of Cambridge to the NSW Industrial Relations Court was purely coincidental after he had sworn on oath that he believed the information in (C) supra was true and correct etc.

I sent this information through and he didn’t publish it tonight. The moderator vetoed it obviously. Very disappointing as it has facts in it that are way too specific. Bolt is playing it extremely cautiously on this. What is you opinion Shane?

They are only questions. But very interesting ones at that. I think he has no choice but to be cautious as he has already had stuff taken down from his site by the News Ltd management. But the News Ltd management have come out fighting today. I think the whole country needs to buckle up and hold on for the ride. Because it is going to be a wild ride over the next few days and weeks unless News Ltd get cold feet again, although I do not see how they can as they would like a joke in front of their readers. Gillard has lost the plot and I will be publishing my next post in the next day or two which will cover that.

When you are referring to the Australian Labor/Union Movement. No wonder they will not allow USA-style RICO laws in this country.

These parasitic maggots have burrowed into the very heart of Australian Government and have been gorging their way through union-members’ pay packets for years – next stop, taxpayers in general via an insidious fraudulent tax on carbon dioxide.

Already we have seen taxation funds directly funnelled into the Union movement via millions in ‘Grants’ to unions to “better communicate with the membership”. At the same time millions in union dues fill the ALP coffers – it is nothing more than a giant money-churn, ripping-off the most productive and hardworking of our people for the personal aggrandizement and profit of the most unprincipled, amoral, incestuous and scurrilous cabal of characters in our political history.

Thank you Shane, for endeavouring to shine some light on their activities. These people are accountable to nobody. It seems Police, both Federal and State, simply serve to obfuscate, cover-up and intimidate any whistle-blower who has the backbone to come forward.

Abbott suggested that the ALP were “almost dying of shame” at their incompetence. I don’t agree. One needs a conscience to feel feel shame, regret or remorse and not a single one of them has the spine to cross the floor of our Parliament to bring the whole Marxist edifice crashing down around their ears.

Shame? Huh! They are simply in a panic of self-preservation now that they have been caught out.

I get away with it not because I am small, but because I am right on the money when I write what I do, the current outbreak in the MSM of Julia Gillard’s corrupt past started with my previous post, so I am not that small. The main stream media do not fear a legal threat they fear the political threat of a media enquiry. Michael Smith of 2ue is still running with the story although at this point in time he has had a certain interview closed down by his managament. The treason charge was what Julian Assange suggested that the Australian public should consider, unless someone sticks their hand up and does it, it is not going to happen.
It is not the court system not coping with the people who control our country it is the police refusing to charge them.

And what do they fear from a media enquiry, discoveries similar to News UK, or an outcome already predetermined which would not please their shareholders. Surely if they were on a winner in terms of readership for relevant and “factual” news material, an enquiry is of little practical consequence (This government threatens collapse on policy and administrative failure let alone scandal (Enter Craig Thomson).)

Gillard has been found to have done nothing wrong in legal terms (and the MSM journalists have said as much) and that situation appears to be not revisitable. While it’s not good reading for her, the “fire” has long since been extinguished? Was she ever personally charged with any criminal wrongdoing, or did Mr Wilson take the entire weight of the law on his shoulders?

And the opposition obviously refuse to take advantage of her past as well….it sounds quite scandalous in parts even without the blunt use of adjectives you subscribe to. None of it adds up.

Over a million dollars went missing from the AWU and as far as l know Mr Wilson just disappeared and was never held accountable. He and Blewitt got some sort of payout from the AWU when the fraud was discovered when it seems contractors came calling to be paid for renovation work on these certain houses. These houses were assoc with Mr Wilson. Cambridge another AWU man, tried to pursue it. The loss of union funds seems never to have been properly investigated by the police at all. I am not sure if the union even called in the police about it. It was mentioned in Hansard by Geoff Leigh MP on 28 Feb 2001 and by another MP in Hansard 2 May 2001. The monies simply disappeared. The questions posed by Pensioner above are extremely detailed. PM Gillard was apparently the lawyer responsible for the AWU, the purchase of properties by Wilson and Blewitt and the set up of dubious accounts for Mr Wilson by which Mr Wilson extorted money from companies such as Theiss and then banked it into these “similar in name’ accounts. It is on public record that she said she did not know what these accounts were for at the time and that she was ‘young and naive” being a thirtyish partner in a Law firm Slater and Gordon. The fact that she and Wilson were also very involved on a personal level during all of this is where it all gets quite murky. Bolt says that PM Gillard is not to be accused of anything here but that the circumstances reflect on her judgement. All of this has never been properly investigated as far as any police involvement l believe because the union people kept it all under cover as much as they could.

Just read the brief announcement re Thomson and the NSW Poiice investigation. The story says that Thomson is not being investigated further.

“It’s understood that Fraud Squad detectives found several reasons why a formal investigation could not proceed and, on that basis, decided yesterday to drop their review. Part of the focus of the NSW investigation had centred on the crime of “deception” and whether Mr Thomson deceived any brothels in NSW when he paid for services using his Health Services Union credit card”

This seems to me that they are referring to the story I heard that he couldn’t be charged because his bosses “didn’t tell him that he couldn’t use if for prostitutes”.? This sounds dodgy (technical ) to say the least and could set some interesting precedents! However it is now going to VIC Police for them to look at some some other issues so he isn’t off the hook yet.

Lets hope Vic police do a thorough job investigating his misuse of union funds. Someone somewhere has to sort this out. And meanwhile Mary Jo is on trial for a shoplifting offence of $90 worth of goods which the left constantly use against the LIberals whenever Thomson’s name is bought up, the inference being that she committed a far greater offence than Thomson and we should all get over it.

Hope these guys, (not only Thomson) have to face some sort of punishment for their behaviour in ripping off union funds – members funds – at some stage. If they get away with this they will see it as a victory and take it that they are, indeed, invincible.

Was Gillard acting against her conflict of interest, when she was with Wilson and doing all this conveyancing work/cash handling and bank account opening etc?.

ANd there is one more thing: I am still perplexed as to her high handed attitude and refusal to answer a couple of apparently fairly mild questions. Is it that as PM she thinks no-one is allowed to question her – a type of meglomania a la Rudd, or is she hiding something, or does she perhaps have useless press officers and advisors?

Carol … “he couldn’t be charged because his bosses “didn’t tell him that he couldn’t use if for prostitutes”.? This sounds dodgy (technical ) to say the least and could set some interesting precedents!”

Extraordinary isn’t it? This means that any employee who misappropriates large amounts of money entrusted to them by their employer can spend it on anything they wish – gambling, hookers, clothing and luxuries for their spouse or ‘main squeeze’ – and do so with impunity as no offense is deemed to have been committed? Bloody outrageous!!

It was the employer who brought the complaint to police. The police are saying that if the HSU weren’t explicit in what that credit card could not be used for, then the employee is guilty of no offense in using it for his own personal gratification and gain. How many embezzlers have cooled their heels in long prison sentences for doing exactly the same thing?

You’re right. How many thieves will use this lame-duck defense in the future?

It’s now official. There is no law and order in this country. Thugs, thieves and their lackeys have now attained the highest offices in this land and nobody can or will touch them.

So far we have a Litany of Larceny from our Nation’s Highest Office bearers – I began to list them all and decided Shane didn’t need any more on his plate than he already has.

Likewise Wilson, Julia’s lover, wasn’t charged either. The union thugs have a tendency to close ranks and protect themselves even if they disagree and fight with each other for their ill gotten gains and power struggle..
They are protecting Thomson because like all thieves he would blow the whistle on them as well….

Wilson was never ‘convicted” or charged with anything and got away with over a million. He was taken to court by his fellow top unionists over some money, by Cambridge l believe. They never brought in the police to my knowledge.

Cambridge later got a promotion in the NSW Industrial Court for his efforts. Promotion or present for letting Wilson disappear and not blowing the lid off things?.

Meanwhile Kernohan’s Stat dec states in plain language that many of the top union people, he included were offered safe ALP seats for their skulduggery and for keeping quiet.. Bob Smith being one of those. Kernohan didn’t take up the offer.

That’s the making of a real story. A story that will have journalists worried that they’ll be “next” .And it’s still unfolding and no one seems to want to pursue it. Probably because they’ll wake up at 3.00am with shovels on their front doorsteps.

Is Michael Smith back from being suspended by 2UE? They (Smith) have supposed;y hidden poor Kernohan away in some safe place as we can all imagine he is ripe for being got at right now..

And by the way every time l write or reveal details or enquire down this track on Andrew Bolt’s Blog it is rejected. Bolt is playing at being the protagonist of free speech however if you look at his blog right now the juiciest blog called “SHOULD THERE BE AN ENQUIRY INTO THE UNIONS” (Sept 8 2011) will not allow any comments at all. What are they afraid of?

Everything to do with this issue is well and truly being squashed in the media. I tried to comment elsewhere to him numerous times about this but to no avail.

Moderator: I moved the comments below to here as they where put under the wrong post, which is an easy mistake as the last three have been about Julia Gillard.

Pat McCann Says:
September 8, 2011 at 6:32 pm e
If, as THOMSON claims, “another man” used the card and forged his name, why the hell are the FRAUD SQUAD not looking into this? Could the guy be a VIP who can’t be named, like an ALP minister or a Judge or more likely an official from the AWU/HSU? I was sure the police would not look int the matter and they didn’t even speak with THOMSON! Thomson tried to pin it on Jackson, but that failed, isn’t that even a crime?

joe lenzo Says:
September 8, 2011 at 8:02 pm e
and we are surprised Y?????

I laughed when you said you are going to screenshot it. But that is the reality of what we have come to with Comrade Gillard closing down the Media. I never considered her a communist like some, but now I do, at least as far as the media control is considered. But back to Thomson with the new claims, it’s obviously a long way to go yet before it’s over.

” …every time l write or reveal details or enquire down this track on Andrew Bolt’s Blog it is rejected. Bolt is playing at being the protagonist of free speech …

Exactly. Several times the same situation has arisen on other matters central to this Govt’s policies. They have either been trivialised, met with a dismissive response or have never seen the light of day.

As we see becoming clearer by the day, perception is the name of this game.

I’d go easy on Bolt, one’s freedom of speech is greatly curtailed (at least perceptively) if one is sued or one loses their job. Remember he still has a court case hanging over his head with a decision pending. The last thing he wants to do is attract the attention of more dudes in wigs.

Everybody thinks it’s a good idea to assault the opposing trenches (to change the status quo), but the first soldier to show his head might have a day that really sucks.

So essentially his freedom of speech is usurped by his employer and secondly by the duress of Leagles (sic).

The fact that this situation exists is built on the tardiness of government or quasi-government agencies. Why that would change is beyond me. I get the feeling the longest game imaginable of pass the parcel will only continue.

I think one thing people are missing is that nothing that Bolt or the others did was defamatory. Giillard was never going to sue anyone. The whole thing was to cover up her corrupt past and it was only political pressure that made them pull the story e.g. threat of a broad media enquiry.

Point I would like to raise is that it states here that the matter was settled by way of a “confidential settlement” Williamson claims of course that the accusations against him were motivated by union opponents. (yeh right!)

This is also similar to the Thomson case. We know that he sued and claimed defamation. We know that the case was settled. However he claims he had an “out of court settlement”. This term usually means that he “Won” the case and that his defamers had been proved wrong. From what I read this is not the case. It appears he ceased action and was up for a lot of legals costs along the way.

It is often stated that he won his case. It is a common thread on his supporters sites that he was proved “innocent” over this case and in my opinion this is due to the ambiguous wording of his “out of court settlement”

Yes you can and it is free. Up near the top on right just put your email address in when it says “Follow this site via Email” and then you will get an email to confirm. After that you will get an email when I do a new post which is once or twice a week.

Said it before, and I’ll say it again. While you have a totally subservient, lazy, weak, apathetic population who’d rather go to the football, the cricket, or the beach than be bothered by/with something like this, what you will always get, is more of this. Wait until the next election someone said above. Again, that’s the easy way out, and history shows it doesn’t work. At elections, all you get is a change of colour. You get the government you deserve, a population of sheep breeds a government of wolves. Just look around.

Further to my post above, Craig Thomson was interviewed by Laurie Oakes this morning and of course, denied everything … the “somebody else did it” approach. If you look at Chapter 6 of the Investigation from page 463, you will see FWA have all the source records (phone records, dockets, receipts etc) which clearly provide the evidence he used the escort services. Even though he has said his drivers licence, credit cards etc were stolen, he signed off on HSU paying the bills as they came in. So in effect the people who clean toilets in our hospitals have paid for Craig’s visits to brothels.

Really interesting to see how his parliamentary expenses would stack up …

I read the FWA Report towards the end where the auditor got a mention. He was paid $2,500 to audit the books which apparently for him only amounted to checking the MYOB data. Generally auditors charge between $10,000 to $20,000 to conduct an audit for a company. In line with the overall tone of the conduct of Mr Craig Thomson, the auditor’s name is Mr Dick … true

http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/goodlyfabric/index.php/theaustralian/comments/thomson_claims_that_he_is_the_victim/
Chris Kenny’s column has a response as follows (sorry so lengthy):
Cold-Hands says:
Sat 12 May 12 (05:19pm)
Parliament has always been jealous of its prerogatives, and that includes judging and penalising those who mislead Parliament or who hold it in contempt. In normal circumstances, Parliament would rule on Thomson telling porkies and fine or imprison him. However, given these extraordinary circumstances where his vote is so crucial, Parliament is unlikely to find him in contempt because the crossbenches are so venal and ruled by self interest. Thomson’s incredible story will allow the cross benches to insist that Thomson remains in the House until he has his day in court, regardless of the damage that this does to the institution. It would take both Windsor & Oakeshott (if Wilkie and Katter stand firm) and I can’t see Windsor letting this affair trump his grudge against the Nationals.

[from the last thread] It looks as though Thomson is taking the high risk but time wasting defence of blaming it all on another Union official. Undoubtedly, he’ll name someone from Coward’s Castle- probably a factional enemy, like Kathy Jackson’s former husband, so that his smear can cause some collateral damage. This defence was already considered and dismissed by the FWA investigation. Thomson already knows that this defence will not fly but is obviously prepared to perjure himself (like Gordon Nuttall), to support the Labor team.

However, Katter, Windsor and the Gullible Grandstander Oakshott will seize upon this figleaf to delay taking any action until Thomson has his day in court. Thomson’s mission will be accomplished- he’ll be able to eke out the Gillard/Green kakistocracy until the end of its term. However, he’ll face perjury charges to add to his other indictments. This may mean that he’ll face a gaol term, but it will be too late to force him to vacate Dobell in time to force an early election.

Even if Oakeshott grows a pair and joins moves to censure Thomson or if Thomson’s explanatory statement is found to have misled Parliament there is no swift remedy to this corrupt regime. While Parliament expelled Hugh Mahon (ALP, Kalgoorlie) in November 1920 for ‘sedition’, recent changes to the rules under Section 8 of the Parliamentary Privileges Act, 1987, mean that neither house of the Parliament now has the power to expel a member. At worst he can be fined (? up to $5000, or imprisoned up to six months), neither of which would force him to resign his seat. However, if after he was imprisoned, he does not sit in Parliament for two months, then Dobell is declared vacant. But, Parliament is unlikely to find that he has misled Parliament unless the cross benches vote for the truth rather than for their own self interest. Given their track record, this is a forlorn hope.

So efforts to see a by-election in Dobell are best concentrated on the finances. Given that it is an offence under the Criminal Code (1899), Section 60 to encompass the “Bribery of member of Parliament”, close attention must be paid to Thomson’s financial affairs to make certain that no slush funds are channelled to him by Labor or Union ‘mates’ and that an Administrator is appointed for HSU East forthwith. Recovery of funds, legal fees, fines and compensation have the best chance of bankrupting Thomson and forcing him to vacate his seat. Given his conduct and his shameless evasion of the truth he deserves no mercy. A pity for his innocent daughters but his wife is another Union apparatchik and doubtless knew what she was marrying.

Big Bad Property Developer – that was an interesting read. Unfortunately the Criminal Code you have referred to is for Queensland so that’s not much help in getting rid of Thomson. However throughout the FWA Investigation there is reference to fringe benefits tax and the ATO, so let’s hope someone in the ATO has sharpened his pencil to go through Craig’s file. Certainly there are criminal matters at risk for him there with the ATO.

I agree that Oakeshott is just a grandstander and it is just a pity these independents now have so much power. Thomson’s wife is a journalist (his second wife) and I think she was a staffer for Della Bosca from NSW.

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